Sunday, May 29, 2016

Junior's baseball season is done so my windshield time can be replaced by blogging time. The plan is to get into a regular routine. I'm going to shoot for some gardening stuff here every Sunday and some booky/doggy/linky stuff during the week. Time will tell.

I generally don't plant tomatoes and peppers until Memorial Day weekend, partly because it doesn't warm up until then. But this year my weekends were filling up fast so I gradually started planting two weeks ago. Most stuff just sits there until the ground gets warm enough - no harm no foul, as long as it doesn't freeze. The tomatoes (40 of them) seem to have taken off well though, while the peppers and eggplants took a pretty good beating from the wind and are going to need some TLC, though Lisa "Lefty Eye" Lopez isn't going to be much help.

A few years ago I started planting my tomatoes sideways. It seems odd at first, but that fall when I pulled up the plants it was obvious the root system was crazy better than the old way. The only thing you have to be careful of is while bending the plant so the last third of it sticks up without snapping it off. There's usually a victim or two in the bunch, but the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few.

Also, I've always been the type to break off the suckers on the tomatoes, but this site says not to and seems to provide good reasoning, besides being lazy. Gonna give it a try this year as more than anything I'm trying to reduce susceptibility to disease.

The latest

Buy it here ...

Zoo Falls is available exclusively in ebook form at Amazon for 90 days. If you are a Prime member, you can get the book for free. Otherwise it is only $2.99.

If you are an iPad owner, you can get the free Kindle app and download it there as well.

Buy it here ...

Here it is available in ebook form, Joshua's Ladder. And now available in paperback! I hope you like it and I appreciate you checking it out. If you aren't already a member of Smashwords, it's simple to sign in.

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Short stories

About Me

A fifth-generation South Dakotan, Haugen is a recovering journalist living in the Black Hills with his wife, one or two teenagers, two dogs and Ragnar, the pet rabbit.
Haugen is a former newspaper reporter, editor, sportswriter, publisher and award-winning columnist.
At various times he has lived in Montrose, Canton, Sioux Falls and Valley Springs. He's worked at the Sioux Falls Argus Leader, Tri-State Neighbor and owned the Tea & Harisburg Champion newspaper in Tea. He also had brief forays across state lines and worked at newspapers in Windom and Luverne, Minn., and Rock Valley, Iowa.
Haugen is also an avid runner and gardener.